For Father’s Day Paul uploaded the song “Oh My Papa” to the Blind Pig & The Acorn YouTube channel.
Here’s what he said about it:
I wanted to upload a special song for father’s day and almost waited too late. I started making this video around 9:30 the night before. I apologize for the odd setting. I’m in the process of moving everything out of my house into my garage so I can redo the floors in my house.
I added some photos of Pap (my father, Jerry Wilson) to spruce the video up a little.
I have been blessed in more ways than I could ever count, but one of the biggest blessings that I and my siblings ever received is having such a wonderful, loving father. I could never have asked for a better dad in any respect.
I heard this song one Sunday afternoon when I was watching PBS with Pap and Granny. A gentleman named Roger Williams sang the song. I was probably in my early teens. I heard it more recently online by Eddie Fisher. The Everly Brothers also recorded it.
The song seems to be of German origin because the title is sometimes written as “Mein Papa.” Some singers sing the word “papa” with accent on the second syllable, which no American English speaker that I know would do.
It’s a very sweet song that I can definitely relate too. I changed the words of the second verse slightly, replacing “always the clown” with “so wise and strong,” just to make it fit Pap a little better. He definitely had a great sense of humor and loved a good joke or funny prank, but it was rare for him to be “the clown.”
I never called him Papa, only “Daddy” and later “Pap,” after his grandkids were born.
If you still have your father, take a moment to tell him that you love and appreciate him and why. Do this not only on Father’s Day but anytime you have a good opportunity. 🙂
If your father is gone, I pray that you have the same kind of happy memories that I have of Pap and more importantly, the Promise of seeing him again with the Heavenly Father. Thanks for watching!
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
Made me cry when I heard Paul sing it.
OPaul, we’re missing our Daddys! What a great tribute you have done for yours. I know he’d love to hear it. & he’d be thinking of his Daddy. I always enjoy your singing, it’s a one of a kind voice.
The close knit families like ours, (mine are from the Carolinas too) are just so special. You don’t see alot of respect like that these days.
We have been so blessed & will be so happy for that great reunion day. Thanks to Jesus our Saviour. Keep up what your doing, we’re always happy to hear what you’re doing.
hugs, Trish
Beautiful, Paul. Thank you for sharing on Father’s Day, Tipper. Eddie Fischer sang the version I grew up hearing. He sang PaPA. Holly Dunn sang the lovely song, Daddy’s Hands.
Such a sweet song and it describes my Daddy. He’s been gone 50 years, but I still miss him.
I can’t think of my Daddy without smiling❤️
I so enjoyed your rendition of Oh My Papa. My dad is no longer with us but I do have happy memories of him. I miss him very much but I also know I will see him again.
Paul, During your sweet rendition, I could tell you were recalling with true emotion all those memories in the wonderful pictures you shared. Thank you for posting this so we could hear and see. As a little girl, I heard it song in southern KY, “Oh, my Pa PA.”
Just Lovely and beautifully sung. Thank you Paul.
I love this!
I miss my Dad so much! What a reunion we are all (Christians) going to have one day. If I don’t meet you before then, we’ll all meet in Heaven! I think my Daddy would have a time talking to your daddy. Sounds like they experienced a lot of similar things and I KNOW my Daddy would love to hear Pap’s music!
Paul,
You sang the song beautifully!. I lost my dad a few days now, but have beautiful memories of him being such a great “Papa”! Have a great day!! H.H.
This post and the song reminded me of a country-western song from maybe the 1980s: “Daddy’s Hands”. I forget who recorded it.
Mr. Paul, Such a Sweet tribute to your Pap. Y’all were truly blessed. Have a good week and thanks for the memories in music.
Gene, this song and I think this is the title of another song Silver Haired Daddy were two of my wife’s favorite songs.
What a beautiful tribute to your Pap! From what I’ve learned about him through the blog & you tube channel, that song fits him perfectly. What a blessing to have such a wonderful, strong, caring & father. In my eyes (from all I know about him) he was a mountain of a man….strong, stable, dependable, unmovable & always there when his family & friends needed him. Thank you Paul for sharing him with us.
I, too, was blessed with my father as were my siblings and our mother. Precious memories. Lifelong memories. Beautiful song and voice, Paul. Thank you.
I woke up at 5:30 this morning with my dad on my mind. Dad is 85 and not doing too well. He’s having trouble walking and very short of breath lately. He is a very stubborn man and refuses to let me take him to the doctor. He would rather just stay home and let whatever happens happen. I feel like I am just waiting for him to die at this point and it is very stressful on my mama too. I am just constantly praying for peace for us all, patience with him and courage to face what is ahead.
Brenda-I will pray for him and for you too!!
Thank you Tipper. That is very kind of you. I keep your Mama in my prayers too.
When I read these comments, I see the common theme is love; a love that redeemed a time, a place, a union and a person and their families. I can’t say it well but love is the single best thing this world has ever known. It changes for the better everything it touches. Today I’m wearing a shirt made to be either tucked in or not. I can’t hardly wear one with the shirt tail out because of my Dad the Marine. He thought a shirt tail out was sloppy and he’d say, “Boys, tuck your shirt tail in.” Took me a lot of years to figure out he was saying, ‘Let people see you’ve got respect for yourself and them.’ There was a time when “spruce” meant well-groomed, as in “spruced up”. Dad always required that of himself and us as best he could.
I have not thought of that song since I was a child. How wonderful to have it back on my mind. I’ll probably be singing and/or humming it all day. Thank you!
An old song and Paul sang it beautifully!
I have heard this song and think you did a great version, Paul! I could tell you put a lot of love in that song and you Wilson’s were so blessed to have a daddy like Pap! I think it’s a beautiful tribute in song to your beloved daddy. If you ask me, MISSING DADDIES is a WHOLE lot wrong with America today! If you have or had a good daddy, be thankful and if you are a daddy who’s there, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL and highly esteemed!!! God bless daddies who frankly have it tough. Let’s lift good men up today and thank them all for their strength and courage!!!
Beautiful singing as always, Paul, and a precious tribute to your father! I had the best Daddy ever was and he worked hard to take care of us. Really, my Daddy and my Mother were wonderful role models and they were both saved and baptized the same day in a little creek near the church they joined. At that time, they were just teens and happened to live down the road from each other. I will see them again when I get to heaven.
I sing the papa like /paa paa/ whereas many people say /paa·puh/. My version has two separate but equal syllables. Two quarter notes I think. I learned it in elementary school from one of my teachers.
Per google Eddie Fisher topped the charts with the song in 1954 when I was just 4. Perhaps the teacher was enamored of the song or of Mr. Fisher himself but, either or neither, she taught it to us. She, unlike Fisher, used the German wording O Mein Papa.
Look up Oh My Papa – Eddie Fisher to hear it as I heard it those many years ago.
What a beautiful memory and job Paul done to honor his dad. We kids could have never asked for a better dad. We often ask now why God saw fit to put us all in the same family. We all love each other so much and care and help each other. We are so blessed where so many are not. Thank you Paul.
I love this song and he sang it beautifully!
I loved this song. I didn’t have a relationship with my Dad until the last 3 years of his life and I can tell you I consider it a beautiful miracle that I thank God for.
Thank you for a beautiful tribute to Papa’s! I was blessed with a great dad and truly appreciate the words! God bless you and yours.❤❤
In my mind no one has had a better Daddy than mine. He had to quit school in the 8th grade to help his sharecropper Daddy farm. He never worked a job that paid much more than minimum wage but provided and raised a family of 4. Mother was a stay at home mother but worked as hard as anyone at home to help him provide for us. He did not want her to work in a factory. I now realize how he often did without to give/provide for his family. He never wasted a dime on cigarettes or alcohol. There was never any doubt about him being a Christian and would go and take his family to church anytime there was a church service. He set a good example for his family and had a boundless amount of love for his family. I could go on and on about my Daddy. He did like to tease, joke and tell tall tales all in clean fun but would never tease anyone out of meaness. This goes back to yesterday and “sayings” when he thought someone was getting to big for their britches he would tell me “no bird ever flew so high the he didn’t have to land sometime.”He was very humble.